Heir to the
Empire
By Ozzallos
A Fukufics (dotcom) Production
Part
Three
"NOOOOO! Let me go! I'll
roll over every single pathetic planet in that pissant little corner of space
they call an empire!"
The Princess of
Pluto jockeyed for position, holding her best friend in life back as the moon
cat advisors looked on in terror. Their Queen glowed black, her eyes nothing
but spotlights of pure, undistilled fury. The platoon of Alpha Guard standing
watch in the secure chamber was at full alert and their armor mounted
communications arrays chattered with emergency traffic. Outside, another dull
thud sounded, remnants of the high explosive warfare echoing throughout the
room.
"Mikahal,
bring me The Key. NOW!" The monarch raged, tears streaking down her
face. A sharply dressed officer hesitated a moment under her glare then folded,
lifting the rectangular box shackled to his arm.
"Mikahal, don't
bring her The Key." Pluto countermanded, still holding the trembling woman
back. The officer paused with indecision, looking back and forth between the
two women.
"Dammit, Puu!
They killed him!" She screeched, sobbing. "The spinless Zann fucks assassinated
him! They'll suffer! They'll ALL suffer!" the Queen lurched forward
in an attempt to bypass Setsuna and collect the rectangular attaché case, which
was immediately blocked by her friend's full body restraint.
"Senny,
NO!" She hollered, but the attempt continued. The last thing in the world
any of them needed at this point was for the Queen of the Empire to get her
hands on was "The Key", a device that held the launch sequences to
every last one of the Crown's strategic intergalactic arsenal. This cocktail of
total annihilation, included, among other weapons of mass destruction, the
infamous XA-505. Whereas the Z90s were fleet born, mid range tactical
singularity weapons, the 505 was designed for system to system bombardment,
independent of a host vessel.
It was also
informally dubbed 'The Nova Bomb' for good reason.
Pluto blocked
another hand that snaked past her, groping for the officer and decided that
this wasn't going to work at all. She half turned, keeping the raging Queen out
of reach. "Everybody, outside!" The feline advisors, Crown tactical
advisor and several military chiefs of staff blinked. The
Had the order come
from anybody else, it would have been ignored entirely. As it was Setsuna Meiou
was the Princess of Pluto, chief architect of the Silver Millennium after the
Queen and her best friend. She didn't have an official rank, nor did she need
one. Her authority was beyond question and as such, the room emptied. Even the
heavily armored Alpha Guard gave only the slightest pause before abandoning
their posts to set up an external perimeter.
"Get back
here! I'm going to torch every last one of the lizards!" She continued to
rage, pausing only for a breath before turning on the green haired Princess.
"Dammit Puu! Don't do this to me! I want them all---"
SmaaCK!
The hand crossed
her cheek and the Queen of the largest star empire known to man fell silent,
momentarily dazed. Pluto held the stunned woman's attention with her glowing
red eyes. "That's enough, Senny!"
"But… But
they killed him, Puu…" The slap seemed to have sapped a large chunk of
Queen Serenity's venom, leaving behind a receptacle of despair and loss.
"I loved him and they… they…"
Pluto simply held
the most powerful woman in known space as she lapsed into sobs. The event had
been nothing less than devastating for her, as a simple ground breaking
ceremony turned into all out chaos. It was a well planned assassination, Setsuna
noted as an afterthought. An attempt on the Queen's life was likely to fail.
After all, you just didn't get past five layers of air-ground security and
her elite guard. Even if you managed to do that, you were then faced with the
formidable task of bringing down the Queen herself. Short of landing an entire
moon on the woman, there was just no way that was going to happen.
But an attempt on
her fiancée, however…
It was a highly
coordinated event that sent three hyper velocity shots in from distances ranging
between four and eight kilometers. The first one was plucked out of the air by
an orbiting gunship, its launcher promptly zeroed and destroyed via guided
missile salvo. The second got closer, but a Sergeant of the
"We've got to
wait for the intelligence to come in, Serenity-chan." Pluto advised softly
to the still weeping queen. "We can't just open Hell's gates on first
impressions."
"But…
They…"
"No, we can't."
Pluto countered in the same soft tone. "Hell, their ambassador is totally
denying involvement. We have to get more information, end of story."
Serenity pulled
herself from Setsuna's shoulder and looked and stared with swollen eyes.
"If he had been yours, you would want the same…"
"If he had
been mine, you would be putting me in my place just like I'm doing now."
Setsuna replied gently. She held the
"Alright."
She paused, collecting her final bits of sanity. "Get the advisors and
joint chiefs back in here. If it's the Zann, they roast. If it's not…"
Setsuna nodded.
"Fair enough, your Highness." She stepped to the armored door,
allowing the Crown's staff entry back into the compartment. They gathered
around the queen, unsure of her current state. Fortunately, she solved that
problem for them.
Commander Adon,
status." She ordered in a no-nonsense tone, one leached of any and all
emotion.
The Queen's Eighth
Alpha Guard stepped forward in his bulky field plate power armor, snapping into
a crisp half bow. The soldier literally looked like a miniature humanoid tank,
dwarfing his monarch easily. "We've swept the area. A fourth position was
found and eliminated, your Highness. There were… Anomalies."
Pluto stepped to
her friend's side. "Anomalies?"
"Yes,
M'Lady." He addressed Setsuna with the same formality as he had the queen.
"Another Zann body was found, this one without weapons. In fact, the
munitions were in a separate section of the building we secured."
"Meaning…?"
"We're
running DNA right now, but I suspect we'll find it is still born replicant,
your Highness." The trooper replied in the same, stone cold tone.
"A clone?"
The white feline blurted off to the right and the Alpha Commander nodded.
"We suspect
it was a backup attack site that we dropped on before they could set up
shop." He continued. "Whoever was staging it is long gone, but left
the place in a hurry."
"Chances that
the Zann perpetrated this attack?" The Queen asked, her eyes flashing with
the need for vengeance.
"If the DNA
comes back, positive, I'd have to say low." The Commander replied.
"Of course, my information is limited solely to the field, but it looks
like a cover up to me. Attack, run and leave a few mangled Zann corpses behind
to cover their tracks."
"Chances that
the Zann would actually commit this atrocity, Luna? Artemis?" Pluto
directed the question at the moon cat advisors in order to ascertain their
current foreign relations with the neighboring empire.
"Small."
Luna replied succinctly. "Give our knowledge of their race, they are far
too logical to ignore the tactical disparity we possess over their
empire."
"In short
they know we could erase them from existence but refrain from doing so solely
on our good will." Artemis elaborated. "This attempt seems rather…
obvious given that fact."
The Queen frowned,
and Setsuna knew why. There was no obvious target to direct her rage, and if it
wasn't the Zann, then it could be… any number of factions, Setsuna admitted to
herself truthfully. They had all made plenty of enemies on their way to the
top. Even as she and the Queen silently considered the implications, one of her
Defense Advisors, a shorter, bald man in an immaculate uniform cleared his
throat. Serenity nodded at him.
"If I may,
your Eminence…" The officer began hesitantly. "The Zann Emperium is…
concerned with heightened alert of our forces along their boarders and have
begun to move strategic assets to their initial strike positions. They also
continue to categorically deny involvement in the incident."
Serenity sighed,
her body finally feeling the aftereffects of adrenaline saturation with nothing
or nobody to expend it on. "Alright. Pull them back until we have more
definitive information. What hyper assets do we have in the area?"
Pluto mentally
winced. She still wasn't letting go of the Zann possibility. The officer made a
quick check of his data pad. "The Lassiter and Durandal."
The Queen nodded.
"Keep them on station. I want first strike capability on them if it turns
out they are responsible."
The Defense
Advisor made the note. Both the Lassiter and Durandal were part of the Hydra
class line of capital ships, capable of piercing the curtain of hyper space.
This ability rendered them both invisible and untouchable to conventional
normal space interaction, but at a price. Any hyper-capable vessel required
massive amounts of power to operate, which in turn added exponential amounts of
mass to their hulls, making them ill suited for normal space warfare. They
simply couldn't maneuver, putting them at a sharp disadvantage versus normal
ships of the line. What they could do was mount large stores of
strategic ordinance, and they would use that ability to drop into hyper-space
for months at a time, emerging only to re-supply or unleash their deadly
arsenal on an unsuspecting world or outpost.
With that in mind,
Pluto stepped in to keep her Queen's thoughts from dwelling too long on the
lizards. "Sweep every attack site. If it wasn't the Zann, we want to know
who perpetrated this act. Quickly, people." Because your Queen has an
itchy trigger finger, she added mentally.
The room cleared
for the second time, leaving Pluto and the Queen alone once more. The air of
authority drained away from Serenity, leaving a hollow shell. Somehow, she
found a padded couch and fell into it. Setsuna joined her, pulling her friend
into a comforting embrace. The sobbing began anew.
"Dammit, Puu…
I loved him…."
"Is
true Grandmother!"
The Matriarch of
the Joketsuzoku Amazon tribe looked at her great grand daughter skeptically.
Not that it wasn't an unbelievable tale… As described, the events that her
purple haired charge and disgruntle compatriot described were indeed par for
the course here in Nerima. Ranma locked as a girl? Sure, why not. A change in
hair color? Big deal. Magical girls? Throw in a few demon hunters, cat girls
and succumbi, and it might have actually been interesting. No, the discrepancy
laid in the ancient Amazon artifact that was supposively the catalyst for these
events, specifically, the fact that the Joketsuzoku had no such treasure in
their possession.
The elder took a
long stare into her grand daughter. She had felt the power being thrown around
half the day, but again, this was Nerima. She hadn't thought it was Ranma's and
even if it was, she couldn't go running every time the boy punted some
challenger across the horizon. She had a business to run. Chasing the grandson
around was Shampoo's job, anyway.
"So the
magical girls arrived," She confirmed and both Shampoo and Mousse nodded.
"Then what?"
"It was very
odd." Shampoo considered. "The Meow-girl and my love talked- not
fiancée talk -then the meatball girl came up and called her… Mother! Ranma
passed out."
"Obviously
the girl is insane." The old woman concluded. "Anything else out of
the ordinary?"
"The
meow-girl called Ranma Serenity." Shampoo replied. "Even called her a
queen." She watched as her words turned the Elder to ice.
"What did
you say?"
"The red eyed
girl called Ranma a queen." Shampoo clarified, and
"No, before
that."
Shampoo looked on
her uncharacteristically still great grandmother carefully.
"Serenity?"
"Beware
when Serenity comes nigh,
She is the enemy on high;
Demon of the moon,
Her passage marks your death;
It comes swift and soon."
The Elder Amazon mumbled,
causing both teens to stare at her with wide eyes. Never had they seen her so
deathly serious. She had lived nearly three hundred years after all. There
wasn't much to surprise the old bat and now she was nearly ashen gray.
"And I
thought it was superstition…" She whispered, and turned to the younger
Amazons. "I will need to confirm this omen for myself. The store is closed
for tonight. We will investigate this at dawn's light tomorrow."
Preferably when
the moon isn't out to give the demon its power,
Akane
Tendo lifted the bucket from the bathroom sink with a certain satisfaction,
normally a satisfaction reserved for a predator about to pounce on its prey.
Last night had been… unsettling to say the least, and this was her therapy;
filling one wash bucket full of icy cold water. Having Ranma beat up on her
idol was more than irritating enough, but to watch women she actually used to
respect bow at his feet? Then her idol had to go off and call Ranma her mother,
demonstrating how poor her choice of magical girl idols actually was. Things
went downhill from there. The Inner Senshi were herded home by Pluto after
Ranma passed out while the three Outers refused to leave the silver pigtailed
girl's side. Her fiancée had been escorted to the upstairs guestroom, where
only Kasumi was allowed access.
What did all of
this mean?
It meant that
Ranma Saotome, her fiancée had been up in the room alone with three
attractive magical girls all night long and she was about to give him his
customary wakeup call. The youngest Tendo avoided the third creaky step on her
way up the stairs, ensuring that her approach was as stealthy as possible. She
paused only momentarily at the guestroom door before throwing it open with a
battle cry poised on her lips.
SssPlitch!
The battle cry
never made it out as she found herself face to face with a crouched short
haired blond, glaring murderously at her. She tried to move back and found that
she couldn't. It probably had something to do with the glowing short sword
sticking into her gut and out the back of her spine. Red droplets ran from the
blade and the bucket fell from Akane Tendo's hands, unspent. Her eyes widened
slightly and she herself slid off the blade, falling to the floor like a sack
of potatoes. Dead potatoes.
Michiru recovered
from her attack stance just behind the blond, looking over her shoulder.
"Um, Haruka… Did you just kill one of the Queen's friends?"
The Princess of
Uranus twitched as at the body in the doorway, slowly draining of blood.
"It's not my fault! You saw how she surprised us!" She hissed and
took a step back. "Dammit, the Queen's SO gonna kill me…" All three
Outers took a look back at their Monarch who was still sleeping soundly.
Michiru and Haruka looked from her, to the body then back to one another,
coming to the same conclusion simutaneuosly.
It was another
hour before Ranma Saotome woke up, and she was dismayed to find three magical
girls still standing guard over her. "Uhhhg… God, my head feels like it's
been kicked a few times…" She rubbed the scruff of silver hair.
"Don't tell me you've been here all night…?"
"Rotating
watch, you Highness."
Ranma was feeling
sufficiently drained not to even bother protesting the 'your highness' crap,
let alone inquire how much of last night had been real or imagined. She was
certainly hoping the blonde's "mother" comment was part of the
latter. Heck, she was feeling so out of it as to skip this morning's practice.
"Look, whatever. Gonna take a bath." She stepped out of the room and
her escort followed. Ranma stopped short. "And ya ain't getting in with
me." All three body guards nodded, taking up positions outside the door
Ranma was opening. She gave them one last look and shook her head before
entering.
The wash down went
without incident until several dull thuds were heard outside the door. Ranma
paused in her scrubbing and watched curiously as the door slammed open half
way, and her father's frame attempted to gain entry. One disembodied arm had
him in a headlock while two others had and arm and a leg respectively.
"Dammit! The boy missed his practice lemmee--erk!"
"Erk"
Signaled Genma Saotome catching sight of his suds covered son turned daughter,
which in turn gave the groping hands the advantage, pulling him back out of the
restroom. The door was left ajar, giving Ranma a clear impression of the
violent beat down that followed. A minute later, Saturn stuck her head back in
discreetly. "Our apologize for the disruption, your Highness." Before
Ranma could reply, the head was gone, leaving Ranma to wonder. Not that she
didn't appreciate the intervention. She couldn't count the number of days where
she would've loved to have delegated her father's ass kicking to somebody else.
The soaking was remarkably incident free aside from the random thud at the
doorway. It allowed the martial artist the relative peace necessary to think
through the fine, fine mess she had somehow gotten herself into.
First on the
mental checklist was the bath itself, which she was talking in female form. Not
surprising. The rock, which had been absorbed into her, was overriding the
curse. Wouldn't be the first time either, so it was a relatively minor detail.
The sliver hair… Now that was an oddity, but not majorly so, having been
exposed to hair-type curses before. Still… Ranma untied the dragon whisker and
stared into the tub mirror mounted in the corner. To say it was exotic was a
serious understatement, she thought as she ran her hands through the silky mass
of silver. Ok, weird, but not that big a deal. The memories… Those were by far
more disturbing in nature. Very little was coherent at the moment, but there
were moments of clarity, and they were frightening. They were visions of times,
places and peoples she had never seen or known, like a guided tour of somebody
else's life… Somebody that was like her, but not… Another disturbing fact was
those life and times were entirely female from what she had been able to
discern through the flashes, which would go a long way toward explaining why
the body felt more at home than usual.
Too at home.
She was a guy,
dammit, and while she wanted to append a mental exclamation point to that
statement as was custom, she just couldn't put the usual force of disgust
behind it. That was a problem. The girl form was beginning to feel more
comfortable; at least as comfortable as his male form, which she would have
never believed to be possible. If she could have bared it, she would have just
chucked the rock and taken the easy way out. That, however, was an
impossibility. She still didn't know much about it, but she knew that it
represented sacrifice… More sacrifice than she had ever seen in this lifetime.
And it was her burden to somehow bear that sacrifice. It wasn't simply a
concept; it was a matter of honor. All in all, it was one hellva vicious
circle to be trapped in; one that bore entirely too much resemblance to her
already complicated life.
Ranma lifted
herself out of the tub and dried off, having mentally prepared herself as much
as she could possibly do so before shit hit the fan as it inevitably did on a
daily basis. Minutes after dressing in her usually red and black silks, she was
out the door with her escort behind her, which brought up another interesting
topic of conversation… How in the world did she rate magical girl
bodyguards? The smell wafting throughout the house quickly drew her away from
that particular topic and she quickly found her way to the dining room, where
everybody was already eating.
They promptly
stopped on sight of her.
"OH MY!"
Kasumi's eyes glittered. She halted serving a bruised Genma and stepped to
Ranma's side, who almost took a step back on reflex. Such an energetic display
from the eldest Tendo was quite unusual. A gentle hand quickly found the damp
silver hair, which glistened spectacularly in the morning's rays pouring
through the window. "It's… absolutely beautiful, Ranma!" Kasumi stood
transfixed for a moment, before looking on the martial artist with wide eyes.
"Do you think you could give me silver magical girl hair?"
"Uh…" It
was the only answer she could come up with before her brain finally caught up to
her mouth. "Um, when I find out how I got it, I'll let ya know
Kas-chan."
This seemed to
satisfy the awed sister for the moment, who promptly turned her full attention
to serving Ranma instead of her father, which only served to brighten the
martial artists mood further. She ignored the remaining stares and reflexively
tied her hair back up into a pigtail before sitting down. Her hands paused
before hitting the chopsticks, and she looked back up at her escorts. "You
want somethin' to eat too?"
All three shook
their heads. "Kasumi-chan was gracious enough to provide us with
sustenance earlier, you Highness." Michiru replied and Ranma shrugged.
"Suit
yourself." She started for the chopsticks once more, but paused once again
to stare at the youngest Tendo who was pretty pale at the moment. "Uh, you
okay 'Kane?"
Akane flashed a
look up to the waiting Senshi and back at Ranma, producing something close to a
weak smile. "Uh, just not hungry, that's all… yeah…" Another look up
at the Senshi and she found her feet and began to leave. "Didn't sleep
well…"
Ranma arched an
eyebrow and looked from her, to the Senshi she was staring at. "Rez
sickness is a bitch." Saturn shrugged. The two other Senshi flashed her
annoyed looks. Ranma simply rolled her eyes. Akane and her magical girl idols…
"So,
Saotome," The middle Tendo sister interrupted in the haughty tone that so
many people loathed. "Does the carpet match the drapes?"
Soun Tendo
practically choked on his tea while his best friend twitched rather obviously. Even
Akane stared at her sister, unable to believe the question she had just
forwarded. Had she been looking in Kasumi's direction, she might have thought
it was a tad creepy that her oldest sister seemed to be awaiting the answer
eagerly. Ranma's fingers hovered above the chopsticks and an annoyed expression
crossed her face. It was the look of patience exhausted; the look of having
been on the short end of the stick too many times. But there was more beyond
that. It was the actual realization of those two concepts for perhaps the first
time since her stay at the Tendos. Somehow they had moved from simple faceless
events in her life to pinpoint scrutiny. She turned one of her colder looks on
Nabiki who found her own breath caught up in the scrutiny.
"Yeah. It
does. What of it?" Nabiki opened her mouth, but for once nothing came out.
It was a stinging barb designed to embarrass the recipient, not be answered
directly. "T'day's not the day, Nabs."
Surprisingly,
Nabiki stayed silent for once. Whether it was Ranma's cold stare or those of
the Senshi behind her acting as an extension of her displeasure was up for
debate, but the results spoke for themselves. Unlike the Panda, Nabiki was far
from stupid. Something had happened between Akane and the Ranma's magical girl
escort, something that had sapped a large chunk of the girl's ever-present
aggression, and it wasn't something she was looking to experience herself.
Escort or no, some things never changed, however.
"Boy! I
demand you change back at once!" Genma growled. "You're turning
entirely too gack!"
Now the word
'gack' normally wasn't a staple part of Genma Saotome's vocabulary, but today
was a notable exception to the rule as the smallest of the Outers brought the
edge of her Silence Glaive down in a flash to lightly rest on the father's
throat.
"You
were already warned."
Genma affected a
weak smile and moved the exotic pole arm off his throat slowly with a single
finger, while Soun restrained the shiver that vibrated through his soul on
seeing the deadly seriousness of the small, black-haired girl. "Eh heh
heheh eh heh…."
None of this
stopped Nodoka from speaking out, being the one person in the room besides
Kasumi with an all but assured 'get out of violence free card'. "Exactly
how long do you plan on staying in that unmanly form, Son?"
Had she have asked
that question yesterday, the silver haired martial artist wouldn't have had an
answer. After a day of reflection, chaos and all around mind-bending, Ranma had
an one. It was as vague as the memories floating around inside her skull at the
moment, but it was more than she had before.
"Long as it
takes, Mom." She answered matter-of-factly, causing the mother to frown.
"It's a matter of honor."
"But it's a
matter of honor for you to marry--"
Nodoka's objection
was quickly parried. "This matter of honor precedes the engagement."
"You were
engaged to marry a Tendo girl at two years old." The chestnut haired
matriarch stated flatly.
"Exactly."
Ranma replied in the same tone. The two starred at one another for the next
minute until Nabiki broke the stalemate.
"You do
realize that makes no sense, right Saotome?"
Ranma shrugged,
jabbing a thumb back to her escorts. "I got three magical girl bodyguards,
silver hair, a bunch of memories that I shouldn't have, one girl calling me
Queen, another Serenity and yet another Mom." She shook her head slowly,
rubbing her temples. "You makin' sense of all that yet, Nabs?"
Nabiki shut up
with nothing to say for the second time in less than an hour and Ranma simply
stood up. "I need time to think. Anybody needs me, I'll be in the
dojo."
Sailor
Uranus stared on in amazement at the silver blur that progressed through a kata
that eclipsed her best by several magnitudes. Saturn watched in neutral silence
while
"Very nice
form, Son in-law." An old female voice crackled, causing the Senshi to
spin around on target, finding a small, shriveled woman in green balanced
evenly on a three foot staff that was as gnarled as she was. The Glaive flipped
down and a glowing space sword slid from its sheath.
"Alpha,
hold." Ranma commanded instinctively, and the girls froze, mirroring the
well oiled military unit they used to represent. None of the three even
questioned their instantaneous response to their Queen's order, much like Ranma
herself didn't even think where the sudden authority was born from.
"Whatcha want ya old…." Ranma's eyes gained a thoughtful glint. "Whattdya
want,
The Amazon elder
blinked. It was the first time in recent memory that the Saotome had actually
used her given name. But that wasn't even her primary concern. That was
the three magical girls in fukus watching her warily and how they had reacted
to Ranma's order like a cohesive military unit. Even more surprising was the
fact that it was Ranma who had ordered them. The last time she had seen that
level of control was in her own Amazons. Of course, outside of Ranma, their
performance left a lot to be desired. Ranma had sensed her approach. The magic
girls hadn't, regardless of the power they were now radiating. They were a huge
threat, but not an insurmountable one by any means.
"Just
stopping by to see if the rumors are true." The ancient woman hopped
forward, causing the Outers to tense up. She studied the martial artist for a
moment. Like the girls behind her, she was radiating power but in greater
quantities and her hair shimmered silver.
"Only if yer
in the habit of listening to Nabiki." Ranma rolled her eyes and the Elder
scowled.
"I told that
child not to take the Tendo's words at face value." The staff hopped, and
clicked the floor, as if emphasizing her annoyance. It held only for a moment
before her face turn mirthful. "And should I call you 'your Highness' now,
too?"
"Yes."
"Yes."
"Yes."
"No."
Ranma turned back
to her bodyguard with an annoyed look. The girls themselves managed to avoid
eye contact. She turned back to
"They seem to
think so."
Ranma's attention
focused sharply on the Elder. She had more than enough combined experience with
bother her and Nabiki's manipulations to know a probe for information when she
heard it. "Whatdya want,
Not rising to the
bait, the old woman thought as she stared at the transformed martial artist. It
was amazing, she thought, how spectacularly things could backfire now, given
their mutual past and how Shampoo's engagement had been handled. On top of
that, she was herself directly responsible for the improvement of what may well
be a potential adversary. Not just an adversary, The adversary.
The adversary which had already eliminated Saffron, a rather large fish on the
adversary food chain. If Ranma was The One, things could go bad in
rapidly epic fashion depending on how she handled the next few moments.
"What do you
know of the patron goddess of the Amazons, Ranma?" Ranma gave her a dry
look which was promptly interpreted as knowing absolutely nothing.
Ranma cocked her
head curiously, listening to the tale. It sounded vaguely familiar. Maybe she had
heard it before. The Senshi behind her, however, had another take on the story
and instantly arrayed themselves around Ranma.
"Your
Highness, please step back." Michiru whispered softly as the slight hiss
of metal sliding out of its sheath accompanied her words. Uranus' space sword
drank in open air and Hotaru's Silence Glaive came down in a guarded position
across her Queen. Ranma glanced from one armed girl to the other with a
questioning look.
"From that
day on, the Amazons paid homage to their Goddess, the one who freed them from
the Moon's shadow." She continued and Haruka growled. "Our goddesses'
name is Beryl."
The space sword
came up into a strike position and Saturn's pole arm flipped through the air
with a grace the girl had never before displayed. The Elder simply stood there
as Ranma reacted instantly, deflecting Uranus' blade upward with one hand and
stopping the whirling Glaive cold with the other.
"I said HOLD!"
The Senshi froze
in their positions even as
Hotaru chose her
words carefully. "You are the Goddess of the Moon, your Majesty."
Ranma blinked
looking from his escort to
"Indeed,"
Ranma flinched
with the name. "I ain't enslaved nobody and I don't know why everybody
keeps callin' me that."
Cologne sighed and
Ranma felt her power slacken. "It does seem unlikely, son in-law, but I
have not lived to this age by ignoring even the most impossible seeming
events." She paused, staring at the young girl. "Nor do I detect that
level of evil within you, though your power has jumped exponentially."
Unsaid was the fact that she would not be looking forward to a battle with the
girl at this point either. That power combined with Ranma's innate skill… She'd
more than likely need a short platoon of Amazon elite in addition to herself to
bring the martial artist down now.
"So whatdya
have in mind? Ranma inquired and the Elder stroked a long white strand of hair
at her tiny shoulders.
"I do not
know, Son in-law, but others will not react positively to this news of your new
association with our ancient nemesis." She elaborated cautiously and Ranma
felt an icy pit develop in her stomach. Amazons that didn't react positively
always seemed to fall into the polar opposite, reacting homicidally.
"I will keep
you informed son in-law." We owe you that much for Saffron, she
thought even as she hopped from the dojo.
Razor
scythe claws flashed in and a lithe Amazon warrior went low, narrowly avoiding
having her head taken off by the obsidian scimitars. Cologne rolled left,
leaving behind wisps of purple hair that hadn't cleared the strike in time.
Another claw came in and she brought the tip of her shuang tou qiang up just in
time to deflect the claws in a shower of white sparks. The moment afforded her
an excellent view of the pink scaled beast she was facing, too good she noted
as it pushed down along the length of her weapon with its body mass. The
eighteen year old resisted the pressure momentarily before rolling back
completely in order to plant a foot into the monster's chest and push it
skyward. Snapping jaws remained airborne only for a moment before crashing into
the bamboo tree line behind the young lady, who promptly recovered into a
fighting stance.
The natural
entanglement allowed the young Amazon to take stock of the situation, which she
quickly rated as decent, all things considered. Of course, those 'things' just
happened to be several mud-caked lacerations, blood soaked combat silks and one
lethal demonic beast approximately two times her size and ten times her mass.
The demon, which could be loosely termed as female- if one were to use such
descriptive loosely -snapped another thick shoot of bamboo in half and stumbled
back into the clearing. It was still reorienting itself, and Cologne took the
opportunity to rip a piece of silk from her pant leg, tying up a bleeding slash
down her left arm. She gave the makeshift bandage a tight tug and winced with
the pain before pulling her double bladed spear out of the earth and flipping
it around, brining it to bear on the beast once more. One of monstrosity's eyes
was already gone; a victim to that same spearpoint, but the remaining one
quickly found the bothersome Amazon and snarled.
Maybe 'decent'
wasn't the word after all, Cologne amended silently and braced for the
inevitable charge.
The charge came
and the Amazon girl gave it two lightning jabs with the spear point before
sliding left like a matador courting her bull. The beast stumbled once again
and its new wounds leaked a dark mist. That just made it mad, and the demon's
spiked tail snapped at her as it went by, nearly taking off her leg. Cologne
hopped over the tail, giving her enough altitude to bring the spear in an
overhead arc and down into the thing's back. The blade point ran through the
scaled dorsal armor, through several vital organs and out its chest. The Amazon
warrior put everything she had into leverage, and pushed down on the shaft,
causing the blade to eviscerate the beast from sternum to skull while magical
plumes of energy accompanied the maneuver. It stood for a moment longer despite
the damage, and Cologne was whipping the spear back around to an offensive
guard when the gouts of streaming life force halted. The beast fell to the
earth a second later.
The young woman
stabbed the spear into the ground and she leaned into it panting while the
monster began to evaporate at her feet. A resonate humming filled the air and
she turned a weary head to the circle of monolithic stones she had been
fighting around. The warding stone at the center came to life, glowing with
indecipherable symbology. She smiled. The Rite of Ascension was hers now. She
had slain the guardian and now all that remained was to take its essence to the
stone and call upon their goddess. Cologne reached into the smoldering mist of
the demonic remains and pulled a pink crystal forth. She stared into the
primitively cut facets and pulled the spear out of the ground.
It was time.
A few short steps
took her inside the ring of stone and power washed over her. This was
definitely the domain of the goddess, she thought, and stepped confidently up
to the warding stone and placed her hand on it. The same glow that pulsed
around the stone now enveloped her, and she prepared to speak the words of
ascension. From there, The Earth Goddess would determine her worth and either
accept her ascension or… Cologne didn't worry about the 'or'. Her line had
always been a strong one. Her mother had ascended as had her grandmother. Now
the honor would undoubtedly be hers. She took a deep breath, and--
"Cologne-chan!
Cologne-chan!"
The purple haired
Amazon whirled around to find a small girl, no more than eight clear the
tree-line, her short crop of light green hair bouncing eagerly as she ran
closer. "You did it, Cologne-chan!"
The warrior's eyes
widened. "Lint! What are you doing here!" The girl's pace slowed, but
her enthusiasm was by no means diminished.
"Watching
you!" The girl bubbled. "You were SO amazing, Cologne-chan!"
"You
shouldn't even be here!" Cologne hiss back, temporarily halting the girl's
advance into the ritual ground and stone wards. "You could have gotten
hurt!"
"But I had to
watch…" The girl pouted, and the Amazon warrior found it hard to keep her
temper toward the child. Hard, but not impossible.
"This is the
Rite of Ascension," She bit back. "NOT a place for little girls, do
you understand!"
Lint frowned some
more. "But I just wanted…"
"I
know." Some of Colognes anger leaked away. "But you can't stay.
Go."
"But…"
"NOW."
"Okay."
The child turned partially, then bolted toward her. "But not without a
hug!"
Alert screamed
through Cologne's brain in that instant as the child closed on the ring of
stones she was standing within. No! She can't cross the line! She's not old
enough! If she does…! Lint sprinted over the line before her thoughts could
translate into action, and the circle of stone, previously dead grey, began to
power up, pulsing with energy. Nononono… Cologne though, horror filtering
through her conscious. Goddess, no!
"GET
AWAY!" She screamed as the child ran up to her, stopping upon seeing the
fear stricken face. "Run! NOW! You aren't ready!"
The girls face was
writ with incomprehension… Until the ground began to rumble.
"Cologne-chan?"
"You foolish
child!" The purple haired warrior shrieked. "Now it will test you!
RUN!"
Instead of heeding
her frantic command, the child stayed rooted to the spot she was standing as
the earth parted behind her, revealing another demon all too similar to the one
Cologne just fought. She cursed and stepped around Lint, bringing the shuang
tou qiang back to the front. The purple haired Amazon warrior shook her head
and readied herself as the new demon crawled from the earthen rubble of its
entrance, noting that the situation had just turned to absolute suck. Lint
herself was a massive combat liability, while she was nowhere near one-hundred
percent after dispatching the first monster. Damn, damn, DAMN.
"If we
survive this, Lint, I promise to tan your hide so bad you won't be sitting for
a month." Cologne growled and the monster pulled up to its full height,
focusing in on the little girl behind her. Lint shrank against the center
stone, not sure who to fear more at the moment.
"Stay behind
me, no matter what."
She didn't see the
small girl's nod, nor did she care. Her entire focus was on the infernal being
before her as it finally perceived her as an obstacle. She knew what was
running through its limited intellect as easily as she could read its eyes…
Obstacle is for
killing.
The fresh youma
charged and Cologne barely cleared its path before razor claws came lashing in,
skittering off her spear with bright flashes of lightening. Lint scampered behind
her and the Warrior let a grim smile crept across her face as she rotated the
great spear around, intercepting strike after strike. This was her
grandmother's own spear and her mother before. Both had wielded it against the
very opponent that now tried to force her guard, and the smile grew with feral
intensity. This weapon in her family's hand was responsible for slaying no less
than three of the beasts, ascending two of her line to godhood. Despite her
condition, Cologne had never lost a fight yet and she was determined to bring
another down and claim her place on high.
A pink tail sliced
in and it managed to slice into her shoulder before her delayed reactions
caught the penetration, deflecting the spike with the spear shaft and opening
the demon's guard to counterattack. She stepped into the flaying tail and
brought the spearhead down halfway into it, chopping the lethal appendage into
a stump before the monster reacted by swatting her away into a stone with a
hard crunch. Stars danced across her vision as her lungs grabbed for breath
that suddenly wasn't there. She gasped and blinked the stars away, only to find
the obsidian scythes inbound for her head. Cologne ducked quickly and the claws
racks across the stone ward, leaving four precisely etched grooves in its wake.
The Amazon
responded in kind, slashing the spear across beast's scaled breasts and
bleeding it of magical energy with the gash. The other claw came down, but
Cologne was already gone, rolling left and punching the spear into its ribcage
before breaking contact. True to her word, Lint was on her like glue, never
leaving her back and the relative safety it provided. The young woman was
panting hard now and nearly every part of her combat silks were stained with
dark blood. The beast wasn't faring much better, having sustained a slash to
the chest, a punctured ribcage and hacked off tail, all of it leaking life
force like a sieve.
For all the damage
it had taken, Cologne was the best of her generation for a reason and she
wasn't a fool. The demon had more power and stamina, while she was just as, if
not more wounded. Her own reserves were running dangerously low and the Amazon
instinctively knew that a protracted battle was a suicidal proposition for her.
No. She never lost. She wasn't about to now. The monster found her once more
and Cologne twirled the shuang tou qiang through a complex arc, burying its
point into the earth before her and sheared it left in a trail of dust. Since
bleeding it to death was no longer an option, she only had one choice-- A last
stand. The best Amazon of her generation pulled every ounce of ki that remained
in her weary body to the forefront and waited for the last charge.
BRAAaaaWW!
The monster tensed
and bolted forward in a salivating mass of fangs and claws. Cologne brought the
spear up and aimed. She would only get one shot at this. The beast leapt
skyward and her spear-point tracked it through the arc.
Now.
"Kachu
Tenshin Amaguriken!"
The spear blurred
into near invisibility as it the beast fell into, hitting the demon at nearly
three-hundred strikes per second. Another half second later and Cologne's
strength failed her. Her body buckled as the massive strain of the technique
sent her to the ground, spear flying across the clearing and into a nearby
stone with a sharp 'twang!'. Her body may have failed her, but it was enough.
Pieces of beast fell around her, smoldering in magical ruin. Body parts flopped
to the ground and a sharp ting! cut through the sizzle of magical flesh
decaying. Her vision, though blurred, easily picked out the pink jem that
dropped before her.
She stared at it,
laying limp for another minute before summoning the willpower to prop herself
up to pull the stone into her grasp. Lint helped the young woman to her feet,
using the spear as a crutch once more.
Two! She had
defeated two of the infernal guardians! Godhood was surely hers now! Cologne
hobbled past the ring of stones once more with girl as support, finding the
central warding stone. What she saw- or didn't see, rather -crushed her spirit.
It was no longer glowing.
"NO!"
The warrior tripped forward, pressing her hands to the pillar, one pink jem in
each hand. She closed her eyes, and drew a breath. "Goddess, I beseech
thee! I sacrifice the guardian's blood and my own to join you at your side!
Take my eternal soul into your hands!"
Silence.
"Take my
eternal soul into your hands!"
The moment drug
on, and a single tear fell to the alter. Cologne knew. She had missed her
chance. Taken too long. Perhaps it was a test. A test she had failed. An
impotent fist pounded against the rock. Yes, that was it. Her goddess had given
her a dilemma… Take her hand in trust or distrust her divine will concerning
Lint. She had distrusted and the Goddess of the Earth had withdrawn her favor.
It couldn't be… Cologne brought herself upright, staring down at the stone
while doubt continued to creep through her mindset. Was her faith so small? Of
course her goddess would not leave the child to her own devices against the
beast. No, it was a test and she failed. Dammit…
"Cologne-chan?"
Lint tugged at the teen's silks. "Are you okay?"
Cologne took a
deep breath. She had missed her chance to sit at Beryl's side, but perhaps that
was not her destiny. Perhaps her destiny was here on Earth to strengthen her
sisters… A ray of hope pierced the Amazon's depression leaded fog as she stared
down at the two crystals in her hand. Not all were accepted to ascend and while
she may have failed this test, but she would not fail another. The two crystals
were honors in and of themselves, and would all but cement her standing within
the tribe.
Yes… maybe- just
maybe -she would be okay.
Usagi
Tsukino stared at the book on the table in front of her and flipped another
page without actually processing the information contained therein. Around her,
the Inners were keeping close watch on her movements, and were worried. She had
been like this most of the day and didn't show any signs of pulling out of the
dazed slump she had sunk into.
"Sa-chan?"
Ami poked her friend's shoulder, slightly shifting the dead weight before her.
"Anybody home?"
"She's my
mom…" the cobalt blue head of hair almost missed her friends whisper, her
gaze never moving from the pages. "I've got two moms…"
"And one of
them kicked your butt." Minako snorted, earning leaded stares from the
rest of the Inners. The smirk died away. "Well she did."
"Senny-- I
mean Queen Serenity obviously hasn't regained all her memories
yet." Setsuna commented, trying her own hand at breaking the princess's
depression with a dose of curiosity. "At least she wasn't serious."
"What do you
mean she wasn't serious?" Makato stared. "She handed us our
butts!"
"That's just
it." The Princess of Pluto replied. "There's absolutely no way she
even cracked a fraction of her potential yesterday." She paused, and a
look of recollection clouded her face. "A lot more physical than I
remember, though."
"Are you
absolutely certain?" Usagi leveled her blue eyes on the Guardian of Time.
"Ami?"
It wasn't even a
question and the Senshi of Mercury flipped out the clam-shelled Mercury link at
Pluto's command. "DNA was screwed up all across the board, of course, but
the power signature was an exact match with the archives I have access to. Add
that to the fact that the Ginzuishou is in nearly perfect alignment with her life
force- accurate to I don't even want to count how many decimal places -I'd have
to say…"
"Yes."
Setsuna finished off and Ami simply shrugged. "She knew things. Impossible
things. Things nobody but myself should know." The green haired Senshi
stroked her long flowing tresses. "Hell, she even knew Haruka's last
name."
"Anybody
could have known that." Rei countered, if only for the sake of playing
devil's advocate.
"Not her
given name from the Silver Millenium." Setsuna shook her head. "None
of you can even tell me what your real last names were, let alone some
redhead from God knows where."
"Then why
doesn't she know me?" The hurt in her voice was transmitted crystal clear
and Setsuna's hand fell on the blonde's shoulder with a sympathetic look on her
face. The level of concern she conveyed shocked the hell out of the Inners.
"Probably
because we've been best friends for damn near forever, Princess." Pluto
replied softly. "It makes sense if it's coming back chronologically. Even
then, she barely made the association."
Usagi stared at
Pluto a moment longer and let loose a weary sigh. "So what do we do
now?"
"We
wait." Moon blinked. That wasn't exactly the answer she was hoping to hear
and her track record concerning patience was well known. Setsuna elaborated
with a slight smile. "I instructed the Outers to escort her here once
things were less hectic at her place."
"The Queen is
coming here?" Ami started with wide eyes.
Setsuna nodded.
"And get Luna and Artemis. The more familiar faces we have around here, the
better."
"Pigtailed
Goddess! A word with you!"
Ranma Saotome
groaned and her escort turned to find a young man in a hakama running down the
street at a brisk pace. They tensed and prepared to power up from their
civilian idenities when Ranma stopped them on sensing the power build up.
"Don't bother. It's just that idiot Kuno."
Michiru arched an
eyebrow. "But if he is a bothersome wretch, shouldn't we dispose of
him?"
"It'd be a
tragic waste of power." Ranma stated dryly. That, and the last thing she
needed was to have magical girls suddenly appear at her side instead of the
ordinary girls who had managed to con her into going with them. In truth, it
was a welcome diversion from the drama currently stewing around the dojo, even
if she was more than likely heading into another helping of it. "We'll see
what the idiot wants before I let you have a crack at him."
Even as Haruka
smiled evilly at the approaching boy, Ranma herself frowned. Same Kuno, same
divorced from reality look, but something was different. Wait. His katana,
specifically the fact that it was an honest-to-God blade, not the wooden bokken
he usually sported. Oh this was going to get plenty interesting, she was sure
of it. If he still wanted the rock…
"Ah! Here you
are!" Kuno started with satisfaction, and the untransformed outers stepped
around their queen protectively. "I was worried that my information had
been in error!"
"Information?"
"Indeed,"
Tatewake nodded, eyeing Ranma's silver hair. "I have come to confirm
certain rumors."
"Rumors?"
The martial artist began to get a sinking pit in her stomach. Rumors were what
were the bane of her existence as of late.
"Is it true
that you are the empress of an ancient and noble empire?" The upper
classman cocked his head, considering her carefully.
"Yes."
"Yes."
"Yes."
"No!"
Ranma glared at
her magical girl escort, who were fortunate enough to be preoccupied by Kuno to
avoid the burning look of annoyance. Kuno himself nodded, as if the preceding
was a given.
"Of course, I
should not have doubted my noble retainer." He continued, and Ranma
immediately placed the retainer in question as Sasuke. When he wasn't tripping
over his own shadow, he could be downright sneaky, and Ranma could easily see
where he'd have missed him in last night's charade. Ranma sighed, wishing the
idiot would say something that would give her the perfect excuse to punt him
over the horizon. Maybe she would just nudge the process along a little bit.
"Ok, yeah,
fine." She rolled her eyes. "I'm the magical-girl queen of an empire
spanning three hundred and five worlds, one hundred thousand light years and
nearly five hundred and eighty trillion citizens. So what of it?"
Haruka, Michiru
and Hotaru simply stared at the girl before their attention was drawn away by
the Kuno, who inhaled sharply.
"So it is
true!" Kuno dropped to one knee and with Ranma's stomach plunged with it.
This was going to be bad. Tatewake untied the scabbard from his side and
held the hilt out to the silver haired pigtailed girl. "On behalf of the
house of Kuno, I pledge my blade and my life to your cause, Empress!"
Ranma twitched,
staring down at the upper-classman. "You have got to be kidding
me."
"Nay, your
Highness." Kuno looked up from his position and Ranma couldn't believe
what she was seeing. Instead of the vacant, insane glitter in Tatewaki's eyes,
she found something else… Oh, the insane glitter was still there, but the
vacancy was gone. Gears were turning behind those eyes. "Please
accept Kuno family blade as a token of our loyalty."
"Our
loyalty?"
"Truly."
He nodded. "My sister and I have discussed the matter at length and agree
that this is the path of true honor."
He pushed the
ordinate katana into her hand, and she couldn't help but to admire the
craftsmanship of the scabbard, inlayed with ivory with dancing tigers dancing
up the edge in gold trim. He pulled the silver blade halfway from its sheath
and balanced it in her hand. While she wasn't an expert on forging per se,
Ranma's martial art's training included blade proficiency and she could tell this
was a formidable one. There was no way this was the usual bribe for a date. She
slid the katana back into the scabbard with a sharp click. Ranma looked at the
Kendoist again as he stared at her feet, leaving her at a total lose for words.
"Umm.. Tell ya
what…" She began, choosing her next words as she possibly could.
"Keep your katana. I, um, shall call upon it when your services are
needed."
Tatewaki of House
Kuno retrieved the blade with a determined look, fastening it back to his side.
"Of course, your Highness! The House of Kuno and its resources shall
henceforth be at your disposal." He rose and snapped into bow.
"Please excuse me, your Eminance. Preperations must be made."
Ranma stared at
the boy for a good minute before realizing that Kuno was actually requesting
permission to depart. "Uh, yeah. Of course." With that, Tatewaki was
gone, leaving one martial artist and three thoroughly confused magical girls in
his wake. Then his words caught up with her stunned personage.
"Waitaminute…
Preperations?"
Author's Notes
This story is getting longer by the hour. I originally couldn't envision it
past three parts, but now I'm easily going to be filling five here. The
Amazon arc that was originally planned is taking a much darker turn than was
originally intended, as I was evolving them only as a kick around convenience
for Ranma, not a story in themselves. As it is, it will be pivotal in Ranma's
development. Hope you're having as much fun as I am :D
Shuang Tou
Qiang; A
Chinese double bladed spear.
Hydra Class
& Hyperspace;
Simply put, these are the submarines of the Silver Millennium space combat.
Instead of having hyperspace as a fast from of travel, I'm writing it as a
dimensional curtain in which one side cannot interact with the other.
Hyperspace vessels can penetrate this dimensional curtain, separating them from
conventional detection and attack.
XA-505; The ICBMs of the Silver
Millennium. Unlike the Z90, they are designed for system to system star warfare
independent of a host vessel. These weapons destroy stars by penetrating their
surface and destabilizing the nuclear reaction therein, creating conditions
favorable to an uncontrolled nova event.
Special thanks to all of Fukufics
(dotcom); Especially Yarrow, DCG and Trimatter.